our job isn’t about finding a husband but helping Herb win the election.”
Andrea’s skin turned the color of her hair, a light shade of red. “Oh, please don’t think I’m saying that I don’t want to help Herb win the election. But at least some of these guys have to be going stag and, darn it, I don’t want to work all my life.”
“No one does. It’s called retirement,” Lisa said flatly.
“I’m only doing this job until I settle down,” Andrea proclaimed. She wobbled a little on the two-inch heels she’d worn to bring her almost to Lisa’s five-eight height. Lisa had to admit that Andrea was cute, which hopefully for some man made up for her singular desire to be wed.
“Just make sure you have all the place cards in the correct spots,” Lisa said as she turned her attention back to her own tasks. She’d been idealistic once—leave college, find the right job, find the right man and live happily ever after. The day of graduation she’d toasted to her future, sharing a bottle of champagne with her three best friends in the world. They’d held their glasses high, proclaimed they weren’t going to settle for anything until they had the proverbial brass ring tight in their grasps.
But life wasn’t perfect. Brass rings tarnished.
Tori, the computer-science major in the group, had been ready to make Microsoft worry. She’d joined an upstart St. Louis–based computer company called Wright Solutions, where she’d fallen into a rut.
Cecile Duletsky had been determined to be Norman Lear, Sidney Sheldon or Aaron Spelling and develop television shows. She’d made it as far as working behind the scenes on a talk show.
And Joann, the woman with the promising television news anchor job ahead of her? Less than three months after graduation she’d learned that she was pregnant, married her college sweetheart and become a stay-at-home mom of three with a diploma that collected dust. Lisa had her suspicions that, while Joann was happy, she still had some regrets.
As for Lisa, she finally had the right job but hadn’t found the right man. Oh, she’d thought she had, until he’d broken it off and subsequently married. Politics was all about alliances, and Lisa had learned that particular lesson the hard way a little over a year ago.
And Bradley Wayne was still her boss. Although she’d branched out and formed her own company, until Herb’s campaign was over, she reported to Bradley.
She surveyed the ballroom again, her radar not sensing any current doom on the horizon. The fact that Professionals for Business Growth had endorsed Herb was excellent. While Herb was a shoo-in for winning the party primary in August, he then would have to defeat Anson Farmer. Even though Herb was ahead in the popularity polls, most analysts predicted that November’s gubernatorial election would be close.
But when Herb did win in November, he would become her most successful and highest placed political candidate ever. That feather in her cap would make the endless apartments and lack of permanent furniture worth it. She’d fill a position on his staff. Herb had further ambitions beyond reviving Missouri, and Lisa could picture him in the White House. She planned to do all his campaign fund-raising and ride his coattails all the way there.
“There you are.” Mrs. Herbert Usher—or Bunny, as she was known—swept into the hotel ballroom like a woman on a mission. At fifty-seven, Bunny had let her hair turn white and the locks waved around her ears. She reminded Lisa of a younger Barbara Bush. “Lisa, Herb’s speechwriter came down with a stomach bug and Herb’s not satisfied with tonight’s address. He wants you to fix it.”
That was Lisa, jack-of-all-trades. “Tell Herb not to panic, and as soon as I finish the final meeting with security, I’ll head up to the suite and do a quick rewrite. I also have some thank-you cards Herb needs to sign so that I can pass them out at the end of the evening.”
Bunny appeared relieved. “Wonderful. Between us girls, I’m late getting my hair done. Appearance is everything, especially with Anson Farmer’s young wife being a former model. The press fawns on her, salivating fools.”
“Everything will be fine,” Lisa said, touching her own hair to make sure that the redone style hadn’t budged. It would crush somewhat when she put the headset on, but that didn’t matter; being in touch with her crew was more important. Nothing would go wrong tonight—she wouldn’t let it. She’d climbed too far to fail now.
Two years ago, when Lisa had begun working for Bradley, Herb had used multiple political fund-raisers and campaign managers. In the past few weeks Herb had narrowed his focus to one fund-raiser—Lisa—and one campaign manager, Bradley Wayne, her ex. Technically Bradley was the boss, Lisa second in command. Lisa supervised four area assistants who were also technically self-employed: Andrea in St. Louis, Kelsey in Kansas City, Drew in Springfield and Duane in Jefferson City. Duane had taken Lisa’s place last week when Herb had promoted Lisa to oversee the entire state, at which time Lisa had relocated to campaign headquarters—St. Louis, Herb’s hometown.
“Don’t worry, Bunny,” Lisa said, concentrating on the task at hand. “We’ll have no complications tonight. You’ll see.”
“That’s great,” Bunny said as she pulled out her cell phone and prepared to take flight. “I’ll see you upstairs in a few minutes.”
The first complication Lisa faced came in the afternoon, when the hotel banquet staff made a substitution on the dinner menu. Thankfully she caught the problem early enough and handled the situation easily. The second issue was more difficult.
“Lisa, Larry Smith isn’t coming!” Andrea’s words blared into Lisa’s ear.
“Larry Smith?”
“Yes. I had him scheduled to pass the hat.”
“And he’s a no-show?” Lisa said into her headset, a twinge of panic constricting her chest. Now five-thirty, people had been entering the ballroom since five for the six o’clock dinner, and Lisa stood near the podium, once again double-checking that everything was ready for Herb’s arrival. She’d left this part of the event totally to Andrea.
“Yes, he’s a no-show,” Andrea repeated, her own panic evident. “He sent his son instead. What are we going to do? When I set this up weeks ago, I didn’t think this would happen.”
“It did,” Lisa said, her mind churning. Unlike Andrea, Lisa wasn’t a nervous newbie. Still, Lisa took a moment to berate herself. She’d had to train Duane and his staff or she’d have been in St. Louis earlier to supervise. And Andrea had assured her…. Lisa focused.
All problems had solutions—she just had to find them. She reviewed what she knew. Larry Smith was an old colleague of Herb’s and he was to make the first two-thousand-dollar donation and start “Pass the Hat.” While the fund-raising dinner brought in soft money from charging exorbitant meal prices, Pass the Hat was a fun event where the hard money was tossed in.
Tonight’s event had five hundred people who had spent five hundred per plate. If an average of one thousand dollars per guest was received, Herb would gain five hundred thousand in hard money for his campaign coffers. That had been the goal Lisa had set.
“You said he sent his son instead,” Lisa said.
“Yes,” Andrea answered. “Larry Smith was going to bring his wife. His son arrived by himself. Now there’s an empty space at that table.”
Empty spaces were
